Bokkie
member
Reged: 04/04/2008
Posts: 154
Loc: Craptown (Crawley) UK.
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Guys, I've got a fairly typical quality printer at home, HP PhotoSmart 3200, and it does a good-ish job. I stumbled on one thing and that is the printer does not recognise SDHC cards. After some scratching above my left ear I thought I'd try one of my wife's SD cards so I was able to view a photo on the printer's monitor. I then printed it on both A4 paper and then on 6x4 photo paper. As expected the A4 looks exactly like you'd expect to, like its been printed on blotting paper. The 6x4 print looked much better. the problem with that is that the colours look ok but the effect is not as vivid as I was hoping.
Do you think I'm expecting too much from my printer? I suppose a more expensive, high specification printer would do a better job. I'm happy to live with relatively mediocre print quality but maybe there is something I can do to improve the quality? By the way, I've run all the cleaning tests and calibration options the printer has. There is no evidence of banding on the printed output so I think I've got the printer as prepared as best as I can.
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Peter. As nice a guy you'll meet anywhere.
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Supersonic
enthusiast
Reged: 11/07/2006
Posts: 263
Loc: Surrey
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I don't have experience of that particular printer but if the print looks like it was done on blotting paper, my guess is the ink is getting into the fibre of the paper and spreading. This happens when printing on plain paper (not inkjet paper) using an inkjet printer - as I found out a few years ago when I tried using some photocopier paper!
So... given that you say the 6x4s are ok on 'photo paper', the most obvious questions are :
- is the paper the right type for the printer and,
- forgive me please - is it in the printer the right way up??!! I.e. is the coated side actually being printed on?
Lastly, it does sometimes make a difference to use the manufacturer's paper, might be worth trying some if you haven't already.
Sorry if you've already checked these things out, it's all I can think of given what you said about having done all the cleaning/checks etc.
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Regards,
Pete
Edited by Supersonic (18/04/2008 08:43)
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Bokkie
member
Reged: 04/04/2008
Posts: 154
Loc: Craptown (Crawley) UK.
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Pete, thanks for your reply. When I mentioned about 'blotting' paper that's to be expected when you print on normal 80g/m2 A4 photocopy grade paper. It's not that the ink was splodgy, far from it, but you'll never get the same gloss quality you'd get on photo grade paper. The next thing I need to look at is the type of paper I'm using. I think my 6x4 photo paper is just a cheap packet I got from a £1-all-items type of stationers shop, that sort of place. I'm going to a photo shop in Haywards Heath this weekend so I'll look at getting a different type of paper and see what that looks like.
By the way, I am printing on the correct side! 
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Peter. As nice a guy you'll meet anywhere.
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LargeFormat
old hand
Reged: 24/10/2006
Posts: 976
Loc: Buckinghamshire and Cumbria
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To keep things simple I suggest using the printer manufacturer's ink and paper.
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Gordon_McGeachie
Joke Historian
Reged: 19/01/2007
Posts: 3854
Loc: East Yorkshire,
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Quote:
To keep things simple I suggest using the printer manufacturer's ink and paper.
Thats exactly what I do, Canons own paper is good enough for what I need. 
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She (Avro Vulcan XH558)Took To The Sky Like A Lovesick Angel.
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swanseadave
addict
Reged: 05/10/2007
Posts: 527
Loc: Swansea, Gateway to Gower
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I always use original ink and paper.Best way.
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If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all - Albert King
my flickr
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Gordon_McGeachie
Joke Historian
Reged: 19/01/2007
Posts: 3854
Loc: East Yorkshire,
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Quote:
I always use original ink and paper.Best way.
No need to mess around buying other profiles.......
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She (Avro Vulcan XH558)Took To The Sky Like A Lovesick Angel.
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Nod
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 08/04/2006
Posts: 4063
Loc: Devon, UK.
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Bokkie, if the pictures on the card are direct from the camera, it's possible that they need a touch of sharpening to make them more printer friendly. You can (usually) set the camera to do this for you or you can do it in PS (or whichever image editor you use).
As others have said, the printer manufacturer's own paper and inks can also make a huge difference.
(BTW, sharpening can be a minefield and can emphasize JPEG artefacts and introduce "haloes" so do some experimenting to see what settings work best to please YOU!)
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MATWSIJ.....
To avoid being offended, please insert apropriate smiley.
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Bokkie
member
Reged: 04/04/2008
Posts: 154
Loc: Craptown (Crawley) UK.
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Nod, I never considered trying to sharpen the picture to try and squeeze some more 'juice' out of it. I've now got some official HP photo paper so I'll see how that compares. The really odd thing is that though I use my printer but rarely, the yellow cartridge is just about empty but the others are still around 50-60% according to the display. I know what you're thinking. I must be printing lots of yellow stuff. I've very few photos of egg yolk, pasta, custard, and stereotyped orientals. 
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Peter. As nice a guy you'll meet anywhere.
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Nod
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 08/04/2006
Posts: 4063
Loc: Devon, UK.
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Not sure what camera you use (although I'm sure you've said somewhere!) so assumed it's a DSLR - images from DSLRs almost always benefit from a little PP (post production) work which can either be left to the camera (not ideal - IT then makes all the decisions and your opinion on what looks good probably won't agree) or done in PhotoShop (or other software) where YOU decide what looks best (and the settings can be VERY different from pic to pic!). It's always best to look at the pictures at a reasonable size when adjusting any of the parameters - a camera's screen (or a printer's) simply isn't big enough to judge what a print'll look like.
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MATWSIJ.....
To avoid being offended, please insert apropriate smiley.
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Supersonic
enthusiast
Reged: 11/07/2006
Posts: 263
Loc: Surrey
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Hope you get it sorted out. Printing is a bit of a minefield, what with profiles, paper types, ink differences etc.
Just remember to write down all the settings etc. when you get it right!
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Regards,
Pete
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